Beautiful

I had an idea. What if every time I looked in the mirror I actually saw myself as beautiful? Instead of critiquing my curves and softness and instead of remembering how skinny and 'beautiful' I was when I got married (at 21) and comparing the (almost) 29 year old me to that....

What if I looked and said, 'I am beautiful. Just the way I am.' My husband tells me this. Does yours (if you have one)? Do you believe him? I sure don't believe mine. I always roll my eyes and follow up with some comment like, 'Even though my ta ta's hang low...even with this big baby bulge...even with this 'extra' weight...?' And every time he says I'm beautiful.

Song of Solomon 1:6 is the woman expressing her shame in her appearance:

Do not stare at me because I am dark,

because I am darkened by the sun.

My mother's sons were angry with me

and made me take care of the vineyards;

my own vineyard I have neglected.

But her lover calls her beautiful:

How beautiful you are, my darling!

Oh, how beautiful!

Your eyes are doves.

(v. 15)

Practice this with me will you? Make a conscious decision to say 'I'm beautiful' to yourself when you look in the mirror and see the specific things that are beautiful about you. Physically. We know your heart is beautiful. But do you know that you physically are beautiful? And of course I'm not talking about over doing it. But I suspect most women have more trouble with seeing their beauty than over estimating their beauty, don't you?